JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 99 



The Christmas bird census of last year was so successful, and 

 the reports were of so much permanent value, that it will be 

 repeated this year in much the same manner as before. Begin on 

 the morning of December 23rd and continue until the evening of 

 January ist. Keep as accurate account as possible of the number 

 of ever}' species you see and send the reports to the editor, City 

 building, Portland, during the first week of January. It is desirable 

 that the report be sent, even if the list of birds seen is not large. In 

 connection with the report add all items of interest noted during the 

 ten days of the Christmas census. 



Reports are coming from several different parts of the state that 

 the American Goshawk is much more plentiful than usual the 

 present fall. A number of specimens have been sent to taxidermists, 

 and the farmers are having some trouble to protect their poultry 

 from this bold robber. 



White-winged Crossbills are abundant throughout southern 

 Maine just now. Capt. Spinney reports a considerable flight of 

 these birds in a note printed in this number of the Journal, and in 

 the pitch-pine woods of Cape Elizabeth there has been a flock of at 

 least two hundred of the same species during a period of two or 

 three weeks. Only here and there has an individual of the American 

 Crossbill been observed with the others. 



- Last fall and winter there was an unusual flight of Snowy Owls 

 in many sections of this state and this fall already the taxidermists 

 are reporting that they are receiving quite a number of Owls of this 

 Arctic species. They are not yet here in the abundance of the 

 winter of 1905-6, 



Redpolls and Pine Grosbeaks have arrived in southern Maine 

 in flocks of fair size. They were last abundant in the winter of 

 1903-4, but since then until the present season they have been 

 reported only as occasional. Around Portland Pine Grosbeaks have 

 been seen in half a dozen different localities and it is likely that 

 there will be more of them as the season advances. 



In the last number of the Journal Mr. Ruthven Deane 

 reported Loons as unusually plentiful at Scarboro Beach during the 

 summer. In this number Messrs Mead, of North Bridgton, and 

 Sweet, of Phillips, call attention to the abundance of the same bird 

 in their sections, and the obser\^ations of these ornithologists, thus 

 taken together, emphasize an item of general interest, making it 

 sure that the Loon has, for one season, at least, resumed its former 

 status in Maine waters. 



